Best Judgment Assessment - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition best-judgment-assessment

Definition :

Best judgment assessment, It is primarily made on the basis of the accounts maintained by the assessee. But, when the assessing officer comes to the conclusion that no reliance can be placed on the accounts maintained by the assessee, he proceeds to assess the assessee on the basis of his 'best judgment'. In doing so, he may take such assistance as the assessee's accounts may afford, he may also rely on other information gathered by him as well as the surrounding circumstances of the case. The assessments made on the basis of the assessee's accounts and those made on 'best judgment' basis are totally different types of assessments, Commissioner of Sales Tax v. H.M. Esufali, (1973) 2 SCC 137: AIR 1973 SC 2266: (1973) 3 SCR 1005. [Madhya Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1958, s. 18(4) and 19]

The power to levy assessment on the basis of best judgment is not an arbitrary power; it is an assessment on the basis of best judgment, State of Orissa v. Shri B. P. Singh Deo, (1971) 3 SCC 52: AIR 1970 SC 670 (671). [Orissa Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1947 s. 29(iii)]